Michael Castleman. Killer Weed (2013) 269 pp. [tpo]
Publishers description: Out-of-work journalist Ed Rosenberg is turning his toking into a full-time job when Silicon Valley billionaire Gene Simons suddenly hires him to research the hippie era of San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury. Eds reporters instinct leads him to investigate the unsolved murder of Genes mother, a low-level pot dealer brutally killed in Golden Gate Park in 1968. Meanwhile, Eds wife Julie has become the media maven for mayoral candidate Dave Kirsch, a former pot dealer and the author of best-selling guides to growing weed. In front of Julies eyes, Kirsch is assassinated: suddenly Ed has another crime to unravel. Edís research into Haight-Ashburys tie-dyed past introduces him to a rogues gallery of aging hippies, who, he discovers, may have been involved in Kirschs demise. Then bullets start flying at Ed.
Setting: San Francisco (Haight-Ashbury)